


Ignite the Bones

by Evil_Little_Dog



Series: Little Things [140]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: Angst, Community: fma_fic_contest, Gen, Headcanon, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-19
Updated: 2014-01-19
Packaged: 2018-01-09 07:09:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1143031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evil_Little_Dog/pseuds/Evil_Little_Dog
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Summary:  Edward did something stupid. <br/>Disclaimer:   If you think I own this, I’ve got some great bottom land to sell you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ignite the Bones

The sight of the Rockbell-Elric house made Alphonse slow his head-long pace. His breath came in great, ragged gulps. Somehow, he’d forgotten all of Izumi’s and Mei’s training at the news; now it was time to find it again. He took a deep breath, forcing himself into calm as he trotted up the path. The house was so quiet, Alphonse barely recognized where he was. Edward’s and Winry’s house usually rocked with shouts, laughter, and cursing. Now, it seemed still, and frightened, and made Alphonse’s gut clench. 

As he climbed the steps to the door, he caught sight of a ladder, resting against the house. A box of nails lay scattered near it. Alphonse frowned, shaking his head. Why the hell had Edward gotten up on the roof of the house, anyway? 

Walking into the living room, he hesitated in the doorway. Alphonse wasn’t used to seeing Becca this way. Oh, he’d seen her terrified, and worried, but never with her face this drawn, her lower lip ragged, her fingers twisting so hard, he thought she might pop them out of socket. “Becca,” he whispered, sitting next to her and wrapping his arm around her slender shoulders. 

Her body wracked by trembling, she didn’t even seem to realize he was there. Her eyes were fixed on the stairs up to the bedrooms. “Becca, can you tell me what happened?” 

Simon paced in the living room, chewing on his cuticle. “She’s gone, Uncle Al,” he said. Tears collected in his eyes, so like Edward’s, though his face had never developed Edward’s pointed chin, but remained rounded, like Winry’s. “Since the doctor,” his voice trailed off. 

The call had been completely succinct – “Dad’s hurt, come now!” – not telling Alphonse anything he needed to know beyond that. He ran the whole way, over the fields connecting their houses together. “Can you tell me what happened?” 

Next to him, Becca made a noise, strange and anguished, and Alphonse tightened his grip on her. Simon swallowed, looking down at his sister, then glancing at Alphonse. “Please, Si.”

“Bec, will you be okay for a few minutes while I talk to Uncle Al?” 

She nodded, and Alphonse gingerly removed his arm from her shoulders, following his nephew a short distance away. Simon glanced out a window, letting himself be distracted for a few seconds before turning his attention to Alphonse. Even so, his usual intent gaze was distracted. “Dad was being Dad,” he said, half in admiration, half in dismay. “He was on the roof of the house, repairing a shingle or something from a storm. We told him to wait for me or Peggy or Aolis, but he said he could handle it!” Simon threw his hands in the air, exasperated. Alphonse could guess what happened after that. Edward would’ve waved off their protests and gone up the ladder anyway. And then, either the ladder slid, or Edward slipped off the roof, or stepped wrong. “Then the box of nails.” Simon choked. “Dad grabbed for it and.”

“So,” Alphonse said, and managed to keep his voice steady with effort, “did he land on his head?”

“If he had, he wouldn’t be in there!” 

And Alphonse wondered if Simon realized how much he sounded like his great-grandmother then, right down to the gallow’s humor. Alphonse glanced over at Becca, seeing she’d started pacing the living room floor, chewing on her cuticle in a mirror-image of Simon. “Do you need to call the other kids?” 

“I already have. And Mom.” He swallowed hard, his voice box bobbing. “She’s getting on the fastest train out of Rush Valley.” 

And Winry would be more or less fine until she got here, and saw Edward. Then she’d let herself fall apart. Alphonse felt his heart squeeze “Go take care of your sister, and the rest of the kids when they get here.”

“What are you going to do?” Simon searched his face. 

“Your Dad fixed me plenty of times.” Alphonse squeezed Simon’s shoulder, searching for the Dragon’s Pulse running beneath the house. “It’s time for me to fix him.”


End file.
